Coupling device

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a coupling device for the reversible establishment of a drive connection between a driving unit (13) of a tool turret and a driven unit (46) of a tool receptacle (36) which is attached to the tool turret and in which a machining tool is able to be received, said coupling device being characterized in that, in a coupling position, a drive shaft (14) of the driving unit (13) is engaged by way of its external toothing (32) with an internal toothing of a driven shaft (44) of the driven unit (46), and in that, for a collision-free orientation of the external toothing (32) with respect to the internal toothing, before coupling, an orienting device is used, which passes through parts of the driven shaft (44) and has a control means on one side for the cooperation with the drive shall (13) and an orienting means that is actuable by the control means on the other side, said orienting means being securable to the tool receptacle.

The invention concerns the detachable engagement of a drive connection between a drive unit of a tool turret and an output unit of a tool holder that is attached to the tool turret, where a machining tool may be retained in said tool holder. The invention concerns, moreover, a tool turret as well as a tool holder comprising at least parts of such a coupling device.

DE 10 2009 042 772 A1 discloses a drive device for selectively driving a tool holder disk of a tool turret and at least one machining tool, which is attachable to the tool holder disk by means of a tool holder, which may be driven by two drive means that have a common drive device comprising a drive shaft, wherein the drive means are connectable with drive means via a coupling device that may be controlled by at least one operating device each, wherein said drive means have the purpose of driving the tool holder disk or the machining tool, and wherein at least the drive device together with the drive means is disposed inside the tool holder disk.

Thus, in one operating mode of the known coupling device, the drive shaft of the drive unit of the tool turret engages, in one clutch position, its internal gearing with an external gearing of the output shaft of the output unit of the tool holder for rotationally driving a machining tool that was attached for this purpose. Once the machining process has been completed with this particular tool, the clutch is released by disengaging said gearing, and through rotating or swivelling of the tool holder disk with respect to the stationary drive unit of the tool turret a new tool holder with its tool, which is disposed on the outer circumference of the tool holder disk, can be moved into machining position, for which the coupling device then engages again said gearing of drive shaft and output shaft.

To achieve a collision-free coupling process it is necessary to align said gearing exactly so that the teeth of the one gearing, such as the external gearing of the output shaft, are able to engage, largely without play, in the spaces between the teeth of the other gearing, in this instance in form of the internal gearing of the drive shaft. To ensure this, so-called anti-rotation locks are used, which are also known in the industry as indexing devices.

An anti-rotation lock of this kind is disclosed in DE 42 28 946 A1 for a spindle head for tool turrets, in which a spindle is rotatably supported, disposed on which is a bushing that is longitudinally moveable but non-rotatable, comprising a locking element which, as an anti-rotation lock in its effective operating position in which the axial displacement range of the bushing is limited in the one direction through positive locking, is engaged with a locking element of the housing and which, through axial displacement of the bushing against the force of a pre-tensioned spring can be disengaged from the locking element of the housing, wherein of the surfaces of the locking elements that cooperate in their effective operating position at least those of the one locking element are inclined with respect to the axial direction to a degree that excludes self-locking. In this manner it is possible to limit the torque that can be transferred via the locking elements to a value that prevents damage or destruction. Furthermore, in this manner it is ensured without particular precision that the clutch profile provided on the spindle can be aligned exactly with the profile of the clutch counterpart so that a collision between the profiles, which are usually in form of gear profiles, cannot occur. An anti-rotation lock of this kind or similar is usually attached to the outer circumference of the output shaft of the output unit of every known tool holder.

Although said known coupling devices with anti-rotation lock have proven themselves successfully in practical application, problems can occur if it is desired to transfer a higher machining torque with the drive unit of the tool turret. This is because the highest transferable torque is always limited by the strength of said shaft-hub connection in form of the engaged gears, which is by design necessarily relatively low.

Based upon said prior art it is the object of the invention to further improve the known coupling devices in that a shaft-hub connection is provided that permits the transfer of higher torque moments, in particular when using more powerful direct drives as drive units with tool turrets.

Said object is met by a coupling device with the characteristics of claim 1 in its entirety.

Because, as described in the characterising part of claim 1, a drive shaft of the drive unit is in one clutch position engaged through its external gearing with the internal gearing of an output shaft of the output unit, by design it is thus possible through larger diameters of the shaft-hub pairing of external and internal gearing to transfer a greater amount of torque and therefore greater machining torque to the machining tool retained in the tool holder, which is not possible with the described current gearing solutions, which use gearing on smaller diameters for machining.

To be able to easily engage the external gearing of the drive shaft with the internal gearing of the output shaft on a larger diameter, provision is made, according to the invention, for an aligning device to ensure a collision-free alignment of said external gearing to said internal gearing prior to the coupling process, wherein said aligning device is no longer disposed on the outer circumference of the output shaft, as described in the prior art, but rather extends through parts of the output shaft and is provided on the one side with a control means to interact with the drive shaft, and on the other side with an aligning means that is controlled by the control means, wherein said aligning means may be attached to the tool holder. This has no equivalent in the prior art, even when including tool turret and tool holder solutions, which are provided with at least some components of the coupling device according to the invention.

Moreover, it is of advantage that it is still possible with the changed, new coupling device to attach tool holders of the conventional kind to the new coupling device since they are still provided with an internally located internal gearing on the drive shaft of the drive unit, besides the externally located external gearing, wherein said internal gearing may be coupled with a conventional external gearing of an output shaft of an output unit of the tool holder. A largely modular tool holder disk concept for a tool turret of a machine tool is thus realised with which new and old tool holders may be retained as required by the application.

Further advantageous embodiments of the solution according to the invention are subject to the other dependent claims.

The coupling device according to the invention will now be explained in greater detail by way of an exemplary embodiment according to the drawing.

Schematically and not to scale are shown in

FIG. 1 partially in longitudinal section and partially in perspective view, a part of a tool turret of a machine tool (not depicted n detail) with a part of the coupling device according to the invention:

FIG. 2 in perspective view a tool holder without inserted machining tool with parts of a coupling device as used in the prior art;

FIGS. 3 & 4 partially in longitudinal section and partially in perspective view, a tool holder without machining tool with parts of the coupling device according to the invention in the coupled and uncoupled state respectively:

FIGS. 5 & 6 partially in longitudinal section and partially in perspective view, for a clutch engagement the insertion of spindle head-like tool holder according to FIG. 2 into a tool turret according to FIG. 1, and the completed clutch engagement between tool holder and tool turret respectively; and

FIGS. 7 & 8 as per the depictions in FIGS. 5 and 6, but this time with using a tool holder according to the depictions in FIGS. 3 and 4 with parts of the coupling device according to the invention, wherein the FIG. 7 shows the tool holder in an operating state equivalent to FIG. 3 and the FIG. 8 corresponds to the operating state of the tool holder according to FIG. 4.

The FIG. 1 depicts parts of a so-called tool turret for a machine tool (not shown), wherein the tool turret is part of said machine, for example in form of a milling machine for the machining of a work piece. To this end a tool holder disk 10 is pivotally guided around stationary housing components 12 of the tool turret which, in modern direct-concept drives accept a drive unit 13 with a drive shaft 14 for the tool turret. Said drive unit 13, which is usually in form of an electromotor, is preferably an integral component of the stationary housing components 12 of the tool turret, and solutions of this kind are disclosed in, for example, DE 101 30 446 A1, DE 10 2009 042 772 A1 or in DE 10 2005 033 890 A1. The drive shaft 14, which is in the usual manner rotatably supported by commonly used bearings 24, 24′ (not described in detail) inside the housing components 12, is provided in multiple sections and comprises a frontal engagement part 16, which may be moved by means of an energy store, for example a compression spring 18, into Its front-most position, as shown in FIG. 1, as soon as an opposite-directed, hydraulic force is no longer present. A hydraulic annular chamber 20, as shown for example in FIG. 5, serves to provide said hydraulic force. Said hydraulic annular chamber 20, to which hydraulic pressure is applied, ensures that a hydraulic stepped piston 22 is returned against the force of the compression spring 18 from right to left when viewing the drawings, and thus assumes its end position, as shown in FIG. 5. Whilst retaining the two front bearings 24, the cylindrical stepped piston 22 carries back with it the front engagement part 16 of the drive shaft 14, for which purpose the engagement part 16 is longitudinally guided in the other parts of the drive shaft 14 in an axially extending longitudinal guide 26.

As is, furthermore, apparent from FIG. 1, the engagement part 16 is provided at its free front end with internal gearing 28, which is located in the central, cylindrical recess 30 in engagement part 16. Moreover, the engagement part 16 is provided at its external circumference with further gearing in form of external gearing 32. In this instance the external gearing 32 is provided on a significantly larger diameter than the diameter that is formed by the internal gearing 28. Furthermore, the tool holder disk 10 is provided with a cylindrical, central recess 34, which serves to receive corresponding cylindrical retaining pins 35 of tool holders 36, 38, wherein the tool holder 36 is of the conventional kind, and the tool holders 38 of the new design according to FIGS. 3 and 4 are provided with parts of the coupling device according to the invention. Instead of said cylindrical formation of the central recess 34 and retaining pins 35, the components that engage with each other may also at least in part have a conical shape (not shown). To simplify the illustration, the machining tool was omitted in the diagrams, which may be attached in the usual manner in the respective tool holder 36, 38 and is therefore not described in detail. Furthermore, in FIG. 1 the engagement part 16 is depicted in its forward-most end position, with the hydraulic annular chamber 20 empty or without pressure respectively and a partially released compression spring 18 forming the hydraulic energy store. In this front engagement position the engagement part 16 blocks the free swivelling of the tool holder disk 10 around a vertical axis, which extends transverse to the longitudinal axis of the drive shaft 14. In this front engagement state the tool holder disk 10 is blocked in its swivelling movement via the engagement part 16 and cannot be swivelled away from it, wherein a further motorised drive with a locking facility known per se (both not shown for reasons of clarity) serve to achieve the defined and precise fixing of the tool holder disk 10 in machining position, as is common practice.

The known tool holder according to FIG. 2 is provided at its cylindrical retaining pin 35 with external gearing 40 that protrudes outwards, which can be made to engage with the internal gearing 28 of the drive shaft 14. As is particularly apparent in FIG. 5, the tool holder 36 is provided at its inside with a type of spindle drive 42 comprising an output shaft 44 of the output unit 46 for the rotational drive of the machining tool (not shown in detail), wherein the output unit 46 is provided with a spindle housing 48, in which the output shaft 44 is supported via bearings 50 in the usual manner. The spindle drive 42 or the output shaft 44 respectively has a stepped shape and is provided at its right, free end face with a clamping cone 52 for clamping the machining tool, which is not shown. Disposed on the left side, when viewing FIG. 5, is a sleeve-shaped anti-rotation lock 54, which is moveably guided along the outer circumference of output shaft 44 over a predeterminable path length as alignment or indexing device and which is braced with its free, right end face against a further energy store in form of a further compression spring 56, which has the propensity to push the sleeve-like anti-rotation lock 54 to the left when viewing FIG. 5. In said left end stop position, the anti-rotation lock 54 locks the output shaft 44 in a predetermined radial position so that it is always ensured that the external gearing 40 engages without collision with the internal gearing 28 of the engagement part 16 of drive shaft 14. Such an anti-rotation lock, used here as indexing device, is described as an example in DE 42 28 946 A1 so that the design details will not be described here in detail.

When, according to the representation in FIG. 6, the tool holder 36 is fully attached to the tool holder disk 10, the pressure in the hydraulic annular chamber 20 is released and the engagement part 16 is pushed forward through the effect of the compression spring 18, wherein by means of the anti-rotation lock 54, which acts here as an aligning device, the aligned gearing 28 and 40 engages without collision, wherein the anti-rotation lock 54 is moved back over the free end face of the engagement part 16 against the force of the compression spring 56, which prevents any locking movement, and the output shaft 44 is now able to power the spindle drive 42. In this instance the cylindrical recess with its internal gearing 28 partially overlaps the output shaft 44 with its external gearing 40 at its free end, so that the adjacent free end faces of engagement part 16 and sleeve-like anti-rotation lock 54 come into surface contact with each other. When switching the electromotor on as the drive unit 13, the machining tool is driven via the thus coupled connection between the drive shaft 14 and the output shaft 44.

To release the clutch, as is shown in an example in FIG. 5, the hydraulic annular chamber 20 is pressurised again, which causes the stepped piston 22 to move back, from right to left when viewing FIG. 5, and thus taking the engagement part 16 with it via the two front bearings 24 against the effect of the compression spring 18. With the engagement part 16 pulled back, the tool holder disk 10 can now be swivelled again in the usual manner, and a different tool holder (not shown), which is disposed on the external circumference of tool holder disk 10, is brought into the desired machining position, as per FIG. 5, for another coupling process. As soon as the engagement part 16 moves into its retracted position, the compression spring 56 pushes the anti-rotation lock 54, which acts as aligning device, from right to left when viewing the drawing, and locks the output shaft 44 securely in its current position, so that for a renewed engagement of internal gearing 28 and external gearing 40 the teeth are aligned to each other in such a way that said gears can mesh with each other. The solution described is prior art, however, using the coupling device according to the invention as described above it is possible, as described earlier, to still couple tool holders 36 of conventional design for a machining process. If this is not desired, said internal gearing 28 of the drive shaft 14 at the drive end should be omitted; alternatively, such coupling processes with the known tool holders 36 are simply not carried out.

The tool holder 38 according to the invention will now be described in greater detail by way of FIGS. 3 and 4, wherein the FIG. 3 shows the tool holder 38 in its uncoupled state and the FIG. 4 in its coupled state. As far as the tool holder 38 has components in common with the tool holder 36 according to FIG. 2 the same reference numbers are used for the same components, and the implementations carried out for it are also applicable for the new embodiment 38. Thus, the tool holder 38 also comprises a spindle housing 48, in which a stepped spindle drive 42 in form of an output shaft 44 is rotatably supported through three bearings 50 in this instance. The output unit 46 designed in this manner is provided at its upper end, when viewing the FIGS. 3 and 4, with a fixing point 58, through which a clamping unit (not shown in detail) for the machining tool may be attached and coupled to the tool holder 38. As already described, at the opposite, lower end the spindle housing 48 merges into a cylindrical retaining pin 35, at the free, lower end of which the stepped output shaft 44 extends to the outside. The lower, free end of output shaft 44 expands into a sleeve-shaped fixing unit 60, which is provided with a centrally located, cylindrical recess 62, along which is located an internal gearing 64 of the output shaft 44. All gearing 28, 32, 40 and 64 used here is preferably in form of splines. The external circumference of said fixing unit 60 finishes essentially flush with the external circumference of the retaining pin 35.

The newer tool holder solution 38 is also provided with an aligning device 66 prior to the actual coupling process to provide a collision-free alignment between external gearing 40 of the drive shaft 14 to the internal gearing 64 of the output shaft 44, wherein said aligning device 66 passes through parts of the output shaft 44 according to the depiction of FIGS. 3 and 4 and is provided on the one side with a control means 68 and on the other side with an aligning means 70 that can be controlled by the control means 68, wherein aligning means 70 may be firmly attached to housing components of the spindle housing 48, which will be described in more detail below. Under the influence of a further energy store in form of a compression spring 72, the control means 68 of the new aligning device 66 protrudes axially with respect to parts of the tool holder 38, particularly in form of the free end of the retaining pin 35. In the embodiment shown, the control means 68 is implemented as a control disk 74, which is guided, axially moveable inside the central recess 62, at a radial clearance to the internal gearing 64 of the output shaft 44. The control means 68 or the control disk 74 respectively is solidly attached to a rod component 76, wherein an engagement bolt 78 passes in transverse direction though the other free end of the rod component, wherein said engagement bolt 78 is retained as alignment means for the output shaft 44, in accordance with the representation in FIG. 3, in the uncoupled state in pocket-like or groove-like recesses 80 on the inside of the retaining pin 35, that is, at the location of the transition of the retaining pin 35 to the free end face 82 of the remaining spindle housing 48.

Furthermore, the rod component 76 is provided at its free end, which is disposed adjacent to the engagement bolt 78, a rod-like centring facility 84, which in the coupled state according to the representation in FIG. 4, is in engagement with corresponding parts of the output shaft 44 in form of a conical guide recess 88. In order to form the guide for the rod component 76, the fixing unit 60 with the internal gearing 64 is rigidly connected via a cylindrical extension 90 with a correspondingly-shaped central extension 92 of the output shaft 44; the extensions 90, 92 may be screwed together, for example. Since the engagement bolt 78, acting as aligning means 70, also passes through the central extension 92 of the output shaft 44 and thus also through the output shaft 44 itself, said output shaft 44 is fixed in its respective position as soon as the engagement bolt 78 is fixed in spindle housing 48 through engagement with the transverse-extending recesses 80. The fixing unit 60 can then no longer be swivelled but retains the position shown in FIG. 3 in the decoupled state of tool holder 38.

If, however, the control disk 74 is operated in the coupled state of the tool holder 38, which will be described below in greater detail, said control disk 74 will, as per the representation in FIG. 4, be pushed further into the cylindrical recess 62 against the compression spring 72, and via the rod component 76 the engagement bolt 78 is disengaged from the recesses 80 in spindle housing 48 with the result that via the internal gearing 64 of the output shaft 44, which is released at that stage, a rotational movement for driving a not-depicted machining tool can occur. To ensure a reliable centring of the rod component 76, its free end in form of the centring facility 84 engages with the guide recess 88 of the output shaft 44. If, from the coupled state shown in FIG. 4, decoupling is required again, the aligning device 66 as a whole assumes again its position as shown in FIG. 3, and the output shaft 44 is rotationally locked again in spindle housing 48 via the locked engagement bolts 78 that act as aligning means 70.

Corresponding to the already presented solutions according to FIGS. 5 and 6, the FIGS. 7 and 8 depict the new tool holder 38 in a decoupled state on tool holder disk 10 and in a coupled state respectively. In this instance the tool holder 38 according to FIG. 3 is retained in this operating position in tool holder disk 10 according to the depiction in FIG. 7, and the tool holder 38 in the coupled state according to FIG. 4 shows the corresponding clamping position according to FIG. 8. To change from the uncoupled or decoupled state according to FIG. 7 into the coupled state according to FIG. 8, the pressure in the hydraulic annular chamber 20 is released, and due to the effect of the compression spring 18 the engagement part 16 is moved, as already described, from its rear position according to FIG. 7 into its front position according to FIG. 8. As a result the external gearing 32 of the drive shaft 14 enters into a clutch engagement with the internal gearing 64 of the output shaft 44, wherein the front free end face of the engagement part 16 engages with the front end face of the control disk 74 and pushes it back from left to right, as viewed in FIG. 7 until the transverse-extending engagement bolt 78 of the aligning device 66 according to the invention disengages from the pocket-like recesses 80 in spindle housing 48. This way the output shaft 44 is released and can be driven through the coupled drive shaft 14 via the electromotor 13.

This fully coupled state is shown by way of example in FIG. 8, and the decoupling process takes place in reverse order, as already described for the solution according to FIGS. 5 and 6, in such a way that through applying pressure to the hydraulic annular chamber 20 the stepped piston 22 moves back against the spring action of the compression spring 18, with the result that the engaged external gearing 32 of drive shaft 14 and the internal gearing 64 of the output shaft 44 is disengaged, with the result that the aligning means 70 of the aligning device 66 in form of the engagement bolt 78 is retained again in the corresponding recesses 80 in spindle housing 48. This way the output shaft 44 is locked exactly into a position that ensures a collision-free and accurate engagement of said gearing where the splines fit exactly into the gaps of the other gear.

As soon as the aligning devices 54, 66 are unlocked in the decoupled state for the tool holders 36 and 38 respectively, they are rotationally driven via the respective output shaft 44 until the end of the machining process.

Whilst with the solution according to the prior art, as shown in FIGS. 2, 5 and 6, torque values between drive shaft 14 and output shaft 44 of approximately 55 Nm may be transferred at a 10% duty cycle, the new gear solution with greater engagement diameters provides for a torque transfer of 85 Nm and more. This permits the application of more powerful direct drives in the tool turret since said shaft-hub connections between the corresponding gears on a larger diameter permit a greater transfer torque. Ensured is in particular that a mechanical failure can no longer occur during torque transfer by the engaged gears. 

1. A coupling device for the detachable engagement of a drive connection between a drive unit (13) of a tool turret and an output unit (46) of a tool holder (36, 38) that is attached to the tool turret, where a machining tool may be retained in said tool holder, characterised in that a drive shaft (14) of the drive unit (13) is engaged, in one clutch position, with its external gearing (32) with an internal gearing (64) of an output shaft (44) of the output unit (46) and that an aligning device (66) ensures a collision-free alignment between external gearing (32) and internal gearing (64) prior to coupling, wherein said aligning device (66) passes through parts of the output shaft (44) and is provided on the one side with a control means (68) for interaction with the drive shaft (13) [sic] and on the other side with an aligning means (70), which may be attached to the tool holder (38) and controlled by the control means (68).
 2. The coupling device according to claim 1, characterised in that the external gearing (32) of the drive shaft (14) comprises an internal gearing (28) of the same drive shaft (14), which is disposed at the end face of drive shaft (14) and extends to the outside and serves, in the coupled state, to receive the external gearing (40) of an output shaft (44) of a conventionally designed tool holder (36), which encloses the output shaft (44) of the tool holder (36) with a known aligning device (54).
 3. The coupling device according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the drive shaft (14) of the drive unit (13) is rotatably supported in a holder (22) and, together with it, is axially moveable by way of operating means (18, 20) from a coupling position into a decoupling position and reverse.
 4. The coupling device according to claim 1, characterised in that, under the effect of an energy store (72) the control means (68) of the aligning device (66) in its neutral position protrudes axially with respect to parts (35) of the tool holder (38), and that the aligning means (70) is fixed to the tool holder (38), and that in the coupling position the control means (68) is in contact with the drive shaft (14) and the aligning means (70) is disengaged from the tool holder (38).
 5. The coupling device according to claim 1, characterised in that the aligning device (66) comprises a rod component (76), which passes through parts of the output shaft (44) and is provided at its one side with a control disk (74) that acts as control means (68) and at its other end with an engagement bolt (78) that acts as aligning means (70), wherein said engagement bolt (78) is attached to the rod component (76) and may be fixed in an aligned position in pocket-like or groove-like recesses (80) in wall sections of the tool holder (38).
 6. The coupling device according to claim 1, characterised in that the rod component (76) at its one free end, adjacent to the engagement bolt (78), is provided with a centring facility (84) which, at least in the coupling position, is engaged with parts of the output shaft (44) of the tool holder (38).
 7. The coupling device according to claim 1, characterised in that the holder (22) of the drive shaft (14) is moved back into a decoupled position with the introduction of hydraulic pressure and is moved forward into coupling position due to the effect of the energy store (18) when the hydraulic pressure is released.
 8. The coupling device according to claim 1, characterised in that the control means (68) is surrounded by the internal gearing (64) of the drive shaft (44) in every one of its possible axial displacement positions.
 9. The coupling device according to claim 1, characterised in that the energy store for the control means (68) takes the form of a compression spring (72), is guided in a holder of the output shaft (44) and is permanently braced with its one free side against the control means (68).
 10. A tool turret with at least part of a coupling device according to claim 1, characterised in that tool holders of the conventional kind (36) and those of the new kind (38) may be fixed to the tool holder disk (10) of the tool turret, which are provided on their output shaft (44) of an output unit (46) with internal gearing (64), which may be engaged with a corresponding external gearing (32) of the drive shaft (14) of the drive unit (13) of the tool turret.
 11. A tool holder for a tool turret according to claim 10, characterised in that it comprises an output unit (46) with an output shaft (44), which is provided at its one free end with internal gearing (64) which is passed through at least partially by an aligning device (66). 